


Bad Influences

by roidadidou



Category: Cuphead (Video Game)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-11
Updated: 2017-11-11
Packaged: 2019-01-31 19:32:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12688788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roidadidou/pseuds/roidadidou





	Bad Influences

“You can’t do that! Roll it again, she cheated! She cheated!” The cries of a sore loser rang louder than any other conversation in the large casino. However, not quite loud enough to pull an addict away from their fix. King Dice quickly approached the situation, hoping to find some entertainment in the sucker’s blight while easing his tension.  


“What’s going on here?” He replied. A skeleton in a scrappy suit - must be years old - showed anxiety on his bleached bone face.  


“He says I rig the game, Dice,” Pirouletta replied innocently. But how much innocence could be portrayed in that suave Russian contralto?  


“Well, let’s see for ourselves.” King Dice picked up a white roulette ball, and chucked it onto Pirouletta’s ball track. The satisfying clack of the ball hitting the pockets was music to any gambler’s ears as the dancer twirled in circles, eventually slowing to a stop as the ball landed in a red pocket.  


“Ah! Red. You would’ve won that time.”  


“That- that doesn’t prove anything! She can fix the game any way she wants!”  


“Sweet Pirouletta cheating? You insult her!” King Dice replied, setting his hands on her shoulders - or what she had of them. “Don’t blame her for your bad luck! Maybe you oughta pick up a rabbit’s foot and come back.” He patted the loser on the back, pulling a cigar from his vest and popping it between the skeleton’s jaws.  


“Why don’t you calm down with some horse races?”  


As the two turned toward the track, a boney face held in trembling boney hands, Dice turned to Pirouletta and pinched his pointer finger and thumb together to make an ‘OK’ gesture while he smiled. But he was stopped by a croupier who pulled him aside.  


“The big man wants to see you, boss,” he whispered. King Dice sighed in, for lack of a better term, repulsion.  
___  


Legs crossed on his desk, the Devil leaned back in his comfortable leather chair as King Dice entered his office.  


“What now?”  


The Devil pushed his finger down on the scale he used to weigh coins, watching it bob up and down.  


“I’ve got another scheme to get that Cuphead and his brother. It’ll work this time.”  


King Dice flopped down in the chair across from him.  


“Is this what you do while I painstakingly manage your casino? Lose sleep over a pair of teacups?”  


The Devil sat up, banging his fist on the desk.  


“Do you know how much business they cost me?! I can’t let them go so easily! And you’re going to help!”  


The manager crossed his arms, adjusting to the chair.  


“Fine, fine. What’s the plan?”  


The Devil smiled.  


“Who would those boys trust more than other boys their own age, huh?”  


“Good grief…” Came a quiet interruption.  


“We disguise ourselves as kids. Join their schoolhouse. Get real chummy with the both of them. Then we lead them back to your house and make them sign the contracts.”  


“My house?”  


“Sure! They wouldn’t know it’s yours.”  


“And how do we suppose we disguise ourselves without them recognizing us?”  


The Devil raised a finger as a way to pause him. Then, using his gifted powers of shapeshifting, held the palms of his hands to his horns until they were pressed down into his head and couldn’t be seen. He moved his ears upward, and twisted his face until he resembled a feline, pulling whiskers out of nothing.  


“Ta-da!” He seemed very proud of himself. King Dice remained unmoved.  


“What about me? They’re going to recognize a die immediately.”  


“Now that’s an interesting thought… Wait! I’ve got it!”  
___  


Even if you wanted to, you couldn’t ignore the loud school bell ringing. Children of various ages filed into the weather-worn schoolhouse, holding books and paper lunchbags. The teacher calling them had a golden bell for a dress. How clever…  


The class took their seats, and the teacher approached the whiteboard.  


“Good morning, class!” She said enthusiastically.  


“Good morning, Missus Peal,” the students replied, still a bit tired from waking up early.  


She began to write the day’s lesson on the board, but was interrupted by the house’s wooden door creaking open. She turned to see two new children.  


“Oh! Will you be joining us today?” She inquired. The class turned to see them.  


They were indeed about the same age as Cuphead. The boy holding the door handle was a seemingly innocent black cat with yellow eyes. His friend was more abstract; having no discernible facial features, his brown corduroy overalls and white dress shirt matched nicely with his head, which was… A wooden tabletop radio.  


“Um, if that’s alright…” The cat responded, twisting his foot into the ground as a child would.  


“Oh, of course! Why don’t you two take an empty seat?”  


The cat excitedly sat down at an empty desk, while his friend blindly held his hands out to find his destination.  


“And what are your names, children?”  


“I’m Lucipurr!” The cat said, neatly folding his hands on his desk.  


“I can’t breathe,” his friend responded, muffled to indistinction. The teacher raised an eyebrow, but Lucipurr used his fist to bang on the radio’s head.  


“Haha, just a bit of static! His name is Tabletop.”  


“Well, Lucipurr and Tabletop, you’ll have a very nice time here as long as you behave nicely.”  


“We will! We will.”  
___  


When Mrs. Peal rang for lunch and recess, the children excitedly left the building to eat their meals in the soft grass and play games. Mugman and Cuphead walked down the building’s steps. As Mugman got excited to eat in his usual spot, Cuphead pulled his arm back.  


“Wait, Mugman! Why don’t we sit with those new kids?”  


Mugman looked a bit pensive.  


“I dunno, Cuphead… Something about them worries me.”  


“Don’t be ridiculous! We were new kids, too, at one point. Come on!”  


They approached Lucipurr and Tabletop, who were sitting in a shady spot under a tree. Lucipurr greeted them excitedly.  


“Hiya, fellas!” He said.  


“Hello! We saw you were lonely.”  


“Aw, well, that’s real nice of you. Say hi, Tabletop.”  


Tabletop muffled something that couldn’t be understood.  


“Where are your lunches?” Mugman inquired. Lucipurr hit his forehead with his palm.  


“Oh, shoot! I knew we were forgetting something!” Cuphead handed him his paper bag.  


“Naw, don’t worry! You two can have mine. I’ll share with Mugman!”  


Mugman looked insulted that he hadn’t been asked permission, but Cuphead dug into Mugman’s lunchbag and took half of his sandwich anyways.  


“Golly! Thanks, boys! I guess we’re friends now, huh? I should know your name, pal.”  


“I’m Cuphead!”  


Tabletop was handed a cookie to awkwardly bump against where his mouth should have been as the lunch hour was filled with childish conversation.  
___  


A few days later, Mrs. Peal handed back graded arithmetic tests. Cuphead sighed to see his score.  


“I failed?! But I studied all week! Oh well…” He said dejectedly. Lucipurr tapped on his shoulder.  


“Psst, Cuphead, we should get back at her for that.”  


“For what?”  


“Failing you! She knows how hard you worked on that. You deserve a better grade!”  


Cuphead was confused. He had never objected to a grade before.  


“Meet us by the tree we eat lunch at after school. We’ll go to Tabletop’s house and plan revenge!”  


The three of them were excited to feel the rush of delinquency. While Mugman hadn’t heard the conversation, he was suspicious nonetheless.  
___  


“Where’s your brother, Mugman?” Elder Kettle inquired as Mugman opened the door to their cottage.  


“He went off to play with the new kids at school.”  


“Well, why aren’t you with him? You don’t have to ask me, as long as you’re home by dinner.”  


“I dunno… Something seems off about those kids.”  
___  


Tabletop pulled three egg cartons from the fridge, shutting the door with his foot.  


“Eggs?” Cuphead asked innocently.  


“We go to Mrs. Peal’s house, and throw eggs at the front!” Lucipurr answered. Cuphead was anxious.  


“That’s awful! What if she sees us?”  


“Don’t be a wet sock, Cuphead! We’ll hide in the bushes when she comes outside.”  


“We won’t get in trouble, will we?”  


“Naw! We’ll all do lookout, and ditch if things go south.”  
___  


_Thump. Thump. Thump._ Mrs. Peal looked down from her book as she heard the repeating bombardment against her front wall, just in time to see an egg splatter her window. Shocked and insulted, she got up and opened her front door, only to find empty egg cartons and a mess she would spend a couple hours cleaning up.  
___  


Lucipurr and Tabletop greeted Cuphead and Mugman in a friendly manner the following morning.  


“Boy, we had a great time last night!” Lucipurr said.  


“What did you do?” Mugman asked. Lucipurr hung an arm around Cuphead’s shoulder.  


“I’m sorry, but you have to join the cool kid’s club to participate in our activities. Applications are open!”  


“Yeah, we’ll go back to my house after school and play games! It’ll be fun!” Tabletop added. Unfortunately, he wasn’t understood.  


“What was that?” Mugman asked. Tabletop, rephrasing himself, used his hands as gestures instead. His two hands mimicked people walking, and then he pointed his thumb behind him. But something was unusual about that first gesture. Almost… familiar. Mugman couldn’t piece it together before Mrs. Peal rang for class.  


She was unusually cold this morning as the class sat down and finished talking. There was no ‘good morning.’  


“Class, I have bad news.” She said, hands folded.  


“Last night, anonymous vandals came and threw eggs at my house. Not only was that an attack on my privacy, it was an attack on my security. All of you should know by now that one right every person is gifted is the right to feel safe in their own home.”  


Cuphead shrunk in his seat. Lucipurr and Tabletop simply sat attentively.  


“My age leaves me unable to provide the labor necessary for cleaning the mess, and I worry that if it stays too long, it may damage the paint on my home.”  


There was an air of solidarity in the class, as if they all wanted to speak up and sympathize.  


“If anyone in this classroom has something to confess to me, I’m listening. You can come see me after class ends, where nobody else will know.”  


Cuphead and Lucipurr made brief eye contact, but Cuphead knew immediately what his friend was thinking; stay quiet.  


Mugman had an idea about who was responsible.  
___  


“Get up, Cuphead.” Mugman shook his brother awake in bed. Another schoolday… Cuphead didn’t exactly feel like going. As Mugman was distracted in the bathroom, Cuphead heard pebbles being flung at the window. He opened it to see his friends.  


“Come on! We’re skipping class.”  


“Skipping class? I don’t know...”  


“What’s she got to teach us we can’t learn on our own?”  


“How am I gonna get past Elder Kettle?”  


“Say you’re sick, duh.”  


Hurriedly, the delinquents disappeared as Mugman came back into the room. Cuphead pulled his blanket up to his nose.  


“Why aren’t you getting up?”  


“I’m sick, Mugman. I got it bad. I should stay home.”  


Mugman squinted. “I think you’re lying.”  


“What, you want me to prove it? Come here and catch my cold!” He said, pulling the blanket down to cough. Mugman stepped back.  


“Fine! I’ll go get Elder Kettle.”  


Their bedroom door shut, and Cuphead worried about the lie he told. It was too late to take it back now. And how would he convince Elder Kettle if he wasn’t really sick? But he stopped thinking about it as he felt a heat wave rush over him. He really did feel sick now - but he didn’t happen to see in the corner of his eye, Lucipurr holding a flame near Cuphead’s ceramic.  


The door opened, and Lucipurr ducked back out of the window. Elder Kettle sat at the end of Cuphead’s bed, and held a hand to his forehead.  


“My goodness, you’re burning up! There’s no way you’re going to school today.” He stated, much to Mugman’s surprise and dismay.  


“Stay in bed, Cuphead, but come get me if you need anything. Mugman, get his homework for him.” He concluded, leaving Cuphead to his solitude. Immediately, he looked over to Lucipurr and Tabletop, who was waving him on to join them. Cuphead carefully climbed out of the window without being caught, and off they went to Tabletop’s house.  
___  


“Yeesh, I sure feel really bad about what we did yesterday.” Cuphead admitted as he walked with his friends.  


“Don’t! Maybe next time she’ll give you a better grade on the math test.” Lucipurr replied with no remorse. Cuphead was having second thoughts about befriending these two.  


Tabletop opened the door to his home and bowed in an intentionally comical manner, allowing his friends to enter before him. Cuphead didn’t see Tabletop lock the door with a key he hid in his pocket.  


“So what’s on the agenda today?” Cuphead said, sitting down with Lucipurr as Tabletop left for the kitchen. Tabletop came back with an armful of boxed snacks and candies, and promptly dropped it all on the ground. He left again to return with board games, as Lucipurr opened a box of confectioneries.  


“Murder! Where’d you get the money for that?” Cuphead asked.  


“We didn’t.”  


“You stole it?!” Cuphead escalated.  


“Cuphead, they throw good food away every single day in stores because they can’t sell it all by the time it goes bad. We were just… Speeding up the process.” Lucipurr added as he bit into a danish. Cuphead wanted to object.  


“You’ll never see this many treats again in your life! Why not enjoy it?” Reluctantly, Cuphead picked up a box of candies, and pulled the cardboard open. Lucipurr subtly nodded to Tabletop, who was standing in the hallway.  


They played various board games for hours as two of the three boys gorged themselves on sweets.  


“You know, I really oughta get home,” Cuphead said right before sunset, trying to stand up. Lucipurr pulled him down.  


“Naw, naw, one more thing before you go.”  


“What is it?”  


Tabletop pulled yellowed slips of paper from a black wooden box that Cuphead hadn’t previously seen. Along with it, a feather quill.  


“Cuphead, we’re real good friends now, aren’t we?” Lucipurr asked innocently.  


“Sure, I guess so.”  


“There’s just a little favor you should do for us.”  


“What is it?”  


Tabletop held up the quill.  


“You and your brother… You took a lot from me.” Lucipurr’s voice became suddenly serious.  


“Wh… What?”  


“You don’t remember?” The cat held Cuphead’s shoulder as claws began to dig into him. Cuphead tried to pull away.  


“No, no! You’re nuts!”  


“No, Cuphead, I guess you could say I’m… Hellbent on getting what I deserve! What you stole from me!”  


He pushed Cuphead back, and as his monologue continued, he seemed to tower over the boy more and more. His face twisted into a more humanoid manner, his ears fell downward, and white horns sprouted from his forehead.  


“The Devil!” Cuphead gasped. “Tabletop, help me!”  


“About Tabletop…” The Devil snickered, ripping the cardboard disguise off of his head, revealing King Dice’s juvenile face, who immediately gasped for air.  


“King Dice! … You look really weird without your mustache.”  


“You’re telling me. It feels weird not having it.”  


The Devil interrupted their exchange by shoving a contract in Cuphead’s face.  


“Sign it! You ceramic imbecile! I’m not letting you go again!”  


Cuphead panicked and tried to run off to the door, but yelped to find it was locked. He felt the handle on the back of his head being grabbed as he was lifted off the ground by King Dice, who had shed his guise of immaturity.  


“Leave me alone! Leave me alone!” Cuphead repeated as he aimed his finger gun, to no avail… How many months had it been since he had needed to use it?  


King Dice jumped and dropped the boy as the door was busted down by two familiar faces.  


“I knew it!” Mugman shouted, standing behind Elder Kettle. Cuphead immediately ran to his guardian, as the kettle aimed his finger towards the casino’s owners.  


“Oh, scary!” The Devil taunted. “An old man pointing at me! What are you gonna do, scold me into submi-” PAP! Blue smoke was left behind as Elder Kettle had hit the fiend directly in the face. The three protagonists made their escape as King Dice was distracted by his boss’s wails.  
___  


“Gosh, Mugman, I’m real sorry. I didn’t know-”  


“You were the one who egged Mrs. Peal’s house, weren’t you?” He replied starkly. Cuphead rubbed his elbow.  


“...Yeah… But how did you realize who they were under those disguises?”  


“When we were talking to them a couple days ago, Tabletop used his hands to make like people walking. But he used his thumb and his pinky as tiny arms. Who else does that?”  


“Cuphead, you need to pick your friends more carefully from now on.” Elder Kettle interrupted.  


“I learned my lesson!”  


Elder Kettle raised an eyebrow.  


“Have you?”  
___  


The sun beat down on three figures as they furiously scrubbed at the walls of Mrs. Peal’s house.  


“I told you it wasn’t gonna work, you dope!” King Dice shouted at his superior. “You’re off your rocker!”  


“Shut it!” The Devil added, wiping sweat from his brow. “You let them get away!”  


Provoked, the lavender-clad gambler used his bucket to fling a copious amount of soapy water at his boss. The Devil shook himself like a dog to get it out of his fur, making King Dice shield his face with his arm. Cuphead stayed silent as he watched the exchange, continuing to scrub the mess.  


While he found their immaturity humorous, he knew then that it was a bad idea to make friends based on first impressions alone.


End file.
